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Are blogs as a form of promotion and advertising viable by any means? I am sort of curious..since I for one dont really read any. I am planning to design a website and it will have a release feed, but should it also contain a blog?

Or should I just give out a bunch of free stuff and lindens to bloggers and see what happens?

Does anyone have any experience with a promotion from a blog gaining them a noticeable consumer base?

I can see friends reading another friends blog, but as far as I can see there aren't too many larger blogs in SL with quite a following? Then again I do not read or follow them, so I am curious.

But I have definitely.been to websites..so I know that is still viable for any production :P but hiring bloggers worth it? Or shall I await them to approach me?
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MIstahMoose wrote:

Are blogs as a form of promotion and advertising viable by any means? I am sort of curious..since I for one dont really read any. I am planning to design a website and it will have a release feed, but should it also contain a blog?

 

Or should I just give out a bunch of free stuff and lindens to bloggers and see what happens?

 

Does anyone have any experience with a promotion from a blog gaining them a noticeable consumer base?

 

I can see friends reading another friends blog, but as far as I can see there aren't too many larger blogs in SL with quite a following? Then again I do not read or follow them, so I am curious.

 

But I have definitely.been to websites..so I know that is still viable for any production
:P
but hiring bloggers worth it? Or shall I await them to approach me?

As Pamela said, word of mouth is a biggy.  Blogs are a minor form of that and people do look at them.

But In World, the girls I know talk all the time about where they shop.  (Some of them keep trying to drag me off for a makeover but I simply don't see what is wrong with my orange dress ;))

While it may take a little time to build up a reputation, if your work is good, it will come.

One thing you might consider is joining a few hunts so your creations start getting seen In World. 

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Many of the bigger name fashion designers have blogs... and I guess some less know names too.

I suppose the challenge is in having the time to do both Design and blogging well.

There is a fashion blogging culture. Some people want free stuff to try and blog about. Some merchants beleive that gets them enough publicity to get their name out and new customers into their MP store or in-world shop that it is worth it. But, some people setup blogs on free-hosting sites and are more about what they can get then in blogging. So, be careful about who you give stuff to.

There are aggregators like iHearts and Fabulously Free that run blog posts of new designer releases. I suspect those are doing well for merchants. I follow them and see stuff I like and visit the shops and sometimes the designers blog. 

There are people like Juicy Bomb that blog about a style of fashion. There is a huge number of such people. Find their blogs, watch what they do, check their submissions policy, and see if they will cover your new releases.

The stores I really like, N-Core, Sintimacy, Indyria, and some others, I join a group or their Subscribe-O-matic news letters. I am limited in the groups I'll join, so for me the newsletter subscription thing works better.

In-world and MP search really suck. One has to study and read up on how to get any kind of decent placement in SL search. I found it more trouble than it is worth. You can search this forum to learn  about Linden ad campaigns you can use. Some people like them, others not so much. In-world search is so bad I actually look at the classified's to find things I want because I know the results are wildly inaccurate. So, there is some value to using LL advertising.

There is lots of competition for people's attention. So, marketing is never easy. Search through the forum and you will find lots of advise.

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From a consumer point of view I'm more likely to follow a themed blog covering a wide range of makers than one maker's blog. But I will check an individual's blog if I see there is one, and see if they have anything useful to say to help me with deciding over the product or if a complex product with using it.

So...

If you're a blogger doing a 'fashion blog' or a 'homes blog' I look for screenshots with composition credit - I got this from Mary, and that from Sue, and these were on sale at the new event.

But if your a maker of products, on your blog I want more.

I want: this product comes in 5 sizes requiring these shape settings to use, because its fitted you can adjust this setting up.down by so much before it distorts. These other ones only come in one size, but I have some more coming soon. Here's what I'm working on next.

Or I want:

Here's the HUD that comes with my vehicles, here's what each button does, here are the key commands to mess with the camera.

Or... here's how to configure the notecards in my stuff.

Or... here's a UV-map template if you want to custom texture that product...

 

In other words, if you are the maker of the item, or selling it... don't give me just a series of screenshots. Give me information on using it or on technical limitations on who can use it... If you don't have such details because your products have no need for such details... you don't need a product blog. I don't come to you to find out what to buy - I come to you to figure out if I can use or how to use what I already want to buy.

I go to the general shopping blogs to decide WHAT to buy.

 

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I love telling people the technical side of everything, but it could also scare consumers? I suppose giving my items to fashon bloggers would gain the consumers, and people who are interested would read the blog I run

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MIstahMoose wrote:

I love telling people the technical side of everything, but it could also scare consumers? I suppose giving my items to fashon bloggers would gain the consumers, and people who are interested would read the blog I run

Your Blog (or website) is one place people will also possibly look for additional  information and you may be surprised how many people actually like it.  Of course us Martians can be a little loopy at times but I do look at details.

You are right that some things could potentially scare a new user, but things like alphas everyone learns very quickly they are needed.  You could do "more information here" pages to keep your front page clean.

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Most (not all) of the big name creators have their own product blogs and also a group of bloggers they send out too. The "best" hand pick their bloggers :D.  

After 3500 plus fashion and design posts here is my very balanced (I think so anyway) point of view.

 

GOOD blog posts (bad ones where your product hardly shows or where the lighting is so bad you can't really SEE the product do not count) get you name recognition. If you go with long time, popular and well respected bloggers, their readers generally TRUST that they are being shown "the good stuff" and not "I would never wear or use this" items.

Blog posts can increase your sales, but the number of folks reading fashion and design blogs is low compared to the general shopping population.

People DO read designer blogs. That's the first place I go when I get a review copy and need more info on it (not all the designers are good about giving bloggers those details *wink*).  The more popular your shop is, the more likely people will come to your store blog to read about new releases. Again, most of the top designers have good, modern, slick and easy to read blogs. Some pay others to keep up their blogs.

While I don't personally have a store blog and seldom feature any of my products on my blog, I would advise that having one is a good thing LOL.   I just create to create. I sell stuff. I don't worry too much about how much. Nowadays most of my sales come from folks seeing my items inworld and looking up my profile.

But that takes time.

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Pussycat Catnap wrote:

From a consumer point of view I'm more likely to follow a themed blog covering a wide range of makers than one maker's blog. 

Me summed up in a nutshell x3

You could try it, invest some time into the blog, check the statistics of how many people read it and whether or not it gets you more costumers and if it doesn't you can always just get rid of it :3

There's no harm in trying right?

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Thank you all for the responses! I will see what I will start up, I am sure I won't be the blogger because I don't have the most savvy way of speech, I tend to offend a lot of people by accident >.< SO maybe I will run a technical blog, and let someone run a fashon blog for me ;)

Thanks again everyone~

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MIstahMoose wrote:

Thank you all for the responses! I will see what I will start up, I am sure I won't be the blogger because I don't have the most savvy way of speech, I tend to offend a lot of people by accident >.< SO maybe I will run a technical blog, and let someone run a fashon blog for me
;)

Thanks again everyone~

The good things about blogs is; they don't even need many words! Especially fashion and Home & Garden blogs.

Plop down one or more pictures and type out everything in that picture (name & creator + bonus points for slurl to mainstore) and that's it.

Can't say how everyone else 'blog shops' but when I do, I scroll down fast, stop when I see something I like and get tunnel vision only going through the 'what is the model wearing' part and ignore anything else. 

Also, I never understood why people insist on posting a youtube video beneath an outfit. Is anyone even watching these?

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Syn

look me up Inworld and I tell you a couple of things about bloging and why you should have one. I have a blog with about 10.000 views per month (but not really a fashion blog).

Also you need to some PR to known fashion bloggers, so they show your stuff on their blog. There are some with really amazing traffic. Check out this one for example: http://juicybomb.com/. Last time I saw stats there were over 100.000 page views in a single month! 

Make sure she has something form your stuff (free of course). Then do a fun event specifically for bloggers, invite them personally, sell yourself to them its well worth it.

 

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carolinestravels wrote:

Syn

look me up Inworld and I tell you a couple of things about bloging and why you should have one. I have a blog with about 10.000 views per month (but not really a fashion blog).

Also you need to some PR to known fashion bloggers, so they show your stuff on their blog. There are some with really amazing traffic. Check out this one for example: 
Last time I saw stats there were over 100.000 page views in a single month! 

Make sure she has something form your stuff (free of course). Then do a fun event specifically for bloggers, invite them personally, sell yourself to them its well worth it.

 

And how would one go about that as a full perm animation creator? Bloggers use poses to showcase their things, not animations?

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And how would one go about that as a full perm animation creator? Bloggers use poses to showcase their things, not animations?

Syn

first of all set up your own blog then find bloggers which write about stuff people do with your animations and have them link to your blog. So same system but different bloggers.

Bloggers that write about building stuff for example.

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Syn Anatine wrote:

And how would one go about that as a full perm animation creator? Bloggers use poses to showcase their things, not animations?

Check out the shop Humanoid's youtube videos.

They show the motion capture studio, the person they used to motion capture, and then cut to an avatar performing the animation.

- Put stuff like that on a blog, and signs inworld next to the demo spots where people can watch the youtube video.

 

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MIstahMoose wrote:

I love telling people the technical side of everything, but it could also scare consumers? I suppose giving my items to fashon bloggers would gain the consumers, and people who are interested would read the blog I run

I do most of my shopping on the MP these days and I've seen items that need technical instructions include .pdf files and/or links to videos to help customers.  I really like both of those ideas.

I rarely read blogs.

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MIstahMoose wrote:

Are blogs as a form of promotion and advertising viable by any means? I am sort of curious..since I for one dont really read any. I am planning to design a website and it will have a release feed, but should it also contain a blog?

 

Or should I just give out a bunch of free stuff and lindens to bloggers and see what happens?

 

Does anyone have any experience with a promotion from a blog gaining them a noticeable consumer base?

 

I can see friends reading another friends blog, but as far as I can see there aren't too many larger blogs in SL with quite a following? Then again I do not read or follow them, so I am curious.

 

But I have definitely.been to websites..so I know that is still viable for any production
:P
but hiring bloggers worth it? Or shall I await them to approach me?

I've had a "store" blog for over five years now and it continues to be a great experience for me. 

Along with (limited) product promotion, I blog about related subjects (history, art, architecture, second life & its communities, etc.).  The blog acts as the anchor for a larger social media (SM) strategy which includes Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Reddit, Forums, etc.  The blog is also a bit of a money maker on its own.

I get the majority of my Second Life information via SM including a lot of great blogs,  Yes, there are Second Life blogs out there with large followings but they're not usually what you would classify as just "store" blogs.

As a form of advertising & promotion using a blog and SM is certainly viable.  You'll have to decide how much time you want to devote to this as it can become quite time consuming.  As others have already mentioned, good products & excellent customer service are your first priorities.

Good luck!

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It's not always about gaining a large following from your blog. I use my blog to some extent but it's always linked from my Facebook page, which does have plenty of followers. While they may not go to my blog, if you're a big Facebook user, you know that things come through your feed. When we make a blog post, I post it to Facebook and then that shows up in feeds of my customers. That's really the main point of it for me...and to have something to be linked to from other blogs like from hunt sites, bloggers who review your items, etc. I find it very useful in the grand scheme of things.

Also keep in mind, not everyone can log into SL every single day. Messags get capped or just closed without reading. For those of us sitting in an office from 8-5 and can't get on at night, sometimes reading blogs or Facebook or whatever is how we find out what new items you've come out with.

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Phoebe Avro wrote:

Create items that are so great people want them, simple as that!

I don't do hunts or promotions I do have a blog but I have not used it for a while, I just make good content!

This ^

It's amazing how fast a good product will be found, bought and sell continuously. No marketing required.

But blogs are good for people who enjoy doing that sort of thing and spending time on it. For me, I like to spend all my time making my items as good as they could be. And it does take time, lots of time - with none to spare on any marketing that gets such minimal results.

When I shop on MP, I do a search and concentrate on the most popular items. I also watch 'what customers are buying now'.

So I'm in the 'word of mouth' camp. So, how do you get your items noticed and spoken about? See my second sentence.

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Rya Nitely wrote:


Phoebe Avro wrote:

Create items that are so great people want them, simple as that!

I don't do hunts or promotions I do have a blog but I have not used it for a while, I just make good content!

This ^

It's amazing how fast a good product will be found, bought and sell continuously. No marketing required.

But blogs are good for people who enjoy doing that sort of thing and spending time on it. For me, I like to spend all my time making my items as good as they could be. And it does take time, lots of time - with none to spare on any marketing that gets such minimal results.

When I shop on MP, I do a search and concentrate on the most popular items. I also watch 'what customers are buying now'.

So I'm in the 'word of mouth' camp. So, how do you get your items noticed and spoken about? See my second sentence.

more of this  ^

I do zero marketing, I've tried but just dosen't work for what I make, and I'm hard to find on the marketplace.  For me the key to good products getting found on there own (for rezzable objects), is all about how customers place them inworld.  Every item sold and rezzed some place where other people can see and click on it, becomes an advertisement.  300 items sold and rezzed becomes 300 advertisements. 

I think most word of mouth sales come from when some one ask a friend where's a good pace to shop, when they can't find what their looking for.  People see things every where they go every time they log in.  This assumes people know how to click on an item to find the creator, if they don't that might lead to word of mouth when they ask the owner where did you get that, even here seeing it first is key.  One sale to the right person with a visible high traffic area can make a product successfull very quickly.

I don't remember where I first clicked on one of your sailboats it was a few years back, but I bought it after seeing it inworld, great boat by the way.

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